The Impact of a Geriatric Multidisciplinary Team in the Emergency Department

Older adults represent a growing proportion of the population and frequently present to hospitals with complex medical, cognitive, functional, and psychosocial needs that require interdisciplinary management. They are also at heightened risk of functional decline when accessing health services, with delays in care coordination contributing to unnecessary hospitalizations and hospitalization-associated disability. Improving outcomes for this population requires proactive, collaborative mobilization of multidisciplinary teams at the time of presentation, rather than reactive or fragmented responses. To address this need, we established a Geriatric Multidisciplinary Team (Geri-MDT) dedicated to the emergency department (ED). The Geri-MDT includes a geriatric nurse, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, social worker, and geriatrician, who together provide early triage and coordinated care for older adults presenting to the ED. We hypothesized that early, well-coordinated involvement of this team would reduce ED length of stay, decrease unnecessary admissions, and shorten inpatient admissions when required.